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Pregnancy increases urinary loss of carnitine and reduces plasma carnitine in Korean women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2007

Sang-Woon Cho  and
Youn-Soo Cha
Sang-Woon Cho
Affiliation:
Department of Food Science & Research Institute of Human Ecology, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, 561-756, Korea
Youn-Soo Cha*
Affiliation:
Department of Food Science & Research Institute of Human Ecology, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, 561-756, Korea
*
*Corresponding author: Dr Y.-S. Cha, fax +82 63 270 3854, email [email protected]
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Abstract

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This study compared plasma and urinary carnitine concentrations in pregnant and non-pregnant Korean women. The subjects were fifty pregnant women and thirty non-pregnant women aged 24–28 years. During the first trimester, dietary carnitine intakes in the pregnant women were much lower than in non-pregnant women (70·00 (sd 29·22) μmol/d), but over the course of pregnancy carnitine intake increased from 44·64 (sd 24·84) μmol/d during the first trimester to 96·11 (sd 36·56) μmol/d during the third trimester. Pregnant women had a significantly lower plasma carnitine concentration than non-pregnant women. Plasma concentrations of non-esterified carnitine, acid-soluble acylcarnitine and total carnitine were significantly lower during the second and third trimesters than the first. Plasma acid-insoluble acylcarnitine levels, which tended to be higher in the non-pregnant women compared with the pregnant women, increased significantly as gestation proceeded. The urinary excretion of non-esterified carnitine, acid-soluble acylcarnitine and total carnitine was significantly higher in the pregnant women during the first and second trimesters than in non-pregnant women and decreased significantly as gestation proceeded. We found that there was a significant decrease in plasma carnitine level even though dietary carnitine intake increased as gestation proceeded. The low urinary excretion of carnitine in late pregnancy may be caused by an increased demand during pregnancy.

Keywords

CarnitinePregnant womenGestationTrimestersPlasmaUrinary excretion
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 93 , Issue 5 , May 2005 , pp. 685 - 691
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2005

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